Last season, the Washington & Lee Invitational was good to the Golden Bears, serving as a National Qualifier for the upstart program. Last season, senior Tech wrestler, Ben Wood, won it all and became the first Golden Bear from the Wrestling program to qualify for the National Tournament. This season, Wood returned to defend his 174 lb title with hopes of a repeat performance.

The tournament opened up on a positive note for Ben Wood (Charleston, WV) in the 174lb weight class, winning in the quarter finals 11-5 over John Hopkins’ Andrew Giannascoli. Wood then picked up a narrow 3-2 victory over the University of Scranton’s Mathew Terry in the semi finals to earn the right to face Jon Sternlicht from Muhlenburg in the Finals. Wood earned a 7-5 victory to defend his Washington & Lee title and solidify his second bid to the National Tournament in as many years.

But Wood wasn’t the only Tech wrestler to experience some success, sophomore JR Kerns (James Lew, WV) also picked up a win, going 1-2 on the weekend. Kerns defeated Washington & Lee’s Richard Knack 9-5 in the 197 lb weight class.

WVU Tech will return to the mats January 27th at 7:00pm when they travel to Lindsey Wilson College to take on the Blue Raiders in MSC action.